Exemplary Damages
000,00 attorney's fees;
88052 – Mecenas vs CA
Feliciano, J
Don Juan sank after collision w/ another vessel. Heirs of Sps Mecenas 2 lives lost (out of
750) filed a suit against the owner and operator of the ship and its captain. The SC found
the behavior of the Captain as grossly negligent and that his conduct could’ve been
corrected by the owner of the ship, exemplary damages were awarded because of such
level of recklessness.
DOCTRINE
Exemplary damages are designed by our civil law to permit the courts to reshape behaviour
that is socially deleterious in its consequence by creating negative incentives or deterrents
against such behaviour. In requiring compliance with the standard which is in fact that of the
highest possible degree of diligence, from common carriers and in creating a presumption
of negligence against them, the law seeks to compel them to control their employees, to
tame their reckless instincts and to force them to take adequate care of human beings and
their property.
FACTS
1. 6 am M/T "Tacloban City," a barge-type oil owned by PNOC and operated by the
PNOC Shipping having unloaded its cargo of petroleum products, left Amlan,
Negros Occidental, and headed towards Bataan.
a. 1 pm M/V "Don Juan," an interisland vessel, Negros Navigation left
Manila bound for Bacolod with seven hundred fifty (750) passengers
listed in its manifest, and a complete set of officers and crew members.
2. On the evening of that same day, 22 April 1980, at about 10:30 o'clock, the
"Tacloban City" and the "Don Juan" collided at the Talbas Strait near Maestra de
Ocampo Island in the vicinity of the island of Mindoro.
a. When the collision occurred, the sea was calm, the weather fair and
visibility good.
b. M/V "Don Juan" sank and hundreds of its passengers perished.
c. Among the ill-fated passengers were the parents of petitioners,
the spouses Perfecto Mecenas and Sofia Mecenas, whose bodies
were never found despite intensive search by petitioners.
3. On 29 December 1980, petitioners filed a complaint in CFI QC against Negros
Navigation and Capt. Roger Santisteban, the captain of the "Don Juan" without,
however, impleading either PNOC or PNOC Shipping.
a. They alleged that they were the seven (7) surviving legitimate children
of Sps Mecenas and that the latter spouses perished in the collision
which had resulted from the negligence of Negros Navigation and Capt.
Santisteban.
b. Prayed for actual damages of not less than P100,000.00 as well as
moral and exemplary damages in such amount as the Court may
deem reasonable to award to them.
4. Another complaint, was filed Lilia Ciocon claiming damages against Negros
Navigation, PNOC and PNOC Shipping for the death of her husband The two (2)
cases were consolidated and heard
a. RTC ruled:
i. For heirs of Sps Mecenas against Negros Navigation Co.,
Inc. and Capt. Roger Santisteban jointly and severally:
P400,000.00 for the death and P15.
plus costs
ii. For Lilia Ciocon against defendants Negros Navigation Co
Inc. and Philippine National Oil Company/PNOC Shipping and
Transportation Company, to the sum of P100,000.00 for the
death of Manuel the sum of P1 5,000.00 attorney's fees, plus
costs.
5. Negros Navigation, Capt. Santisteban, PNOC and PNOC Shipping appealed the
trial court's decision to the Court of Appeals.
a. PNOC and PNOC Shipping withdrew their appeal citing a compromise
agreement reached by them with Negros Navigation;
i. CA granted the motion
6. CA: reduced award to heirs to 100k as actual and compensatory d
maintaining the 15k attys fees
ISSUE with HOLDING
7. whether or not the Court of Appeals had erred in reducing the amount of the
damages awarded by the trial court to the petitioners from P400,000.00 to
P100,000.00.
a. CA treated the claim as one for quasi-delict.
b. SC: the action is on the contract of carriage between the Mecenas
spouses as regular passengers who paid for their boat tickets and
Negros Navigation
i. petitioners would be entitled to moral damages so long as the
collision which caused death were caused or attended by
negligence on the part of private respondents.
8. w/n petitioners' may claim exemplary damages,
a. Article 2332. In contracts and quasi-contracts, the court may exemplary
damages if the defendant acted in a wanton, fraudulent, reckless,
oppressive or malevolent manner.
9. WHO was at fault? BOTH
a. The Commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard, in his decision ruled
"Tacloban City" was "primarily and solely at fault and responsible for
the collision." Upon MR, the Minister of Defense overturned him and
ruled both vessels were negligent.
b. RTC found the same: M/ V Don Juan and Tacloban City became aware
of each other's presence in the area by visual contact at a distance of
something like 6 miles from each other. They were fully aware that if
they continued on their course, they will meet head on. Don Juan -
steered to the right; Tacloban City continued its course to the left. There
can be no excuse for them not to realize that, with such maneuvers,
they will collide. They executed maneuvers inadequate, and too late, to
avoid collision.
c. CA: found the same
d. SC: no question that the "Don Juan" was at least as negligent as the
M/T "Tacloban City" in the events leading up to the collision and the
sinking of the "Don Juan."
10. QUESTION is: whether the negligence on the part of the "Don Juan"
reached that level of recklessness or gross negligence that our Civil Code
requires for the imposition of exemplary damages. -YES under these
circumstances, a presumption of gross negligence on the part of the vessel (her
officers and crew) and of its ship-owner arises; this presumption was never
rebutted by Negros Navigation.
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a. Accdg to the Phil Cost Guard (PCG) Report M/S Don Juan's Master,
Capt. Rogelio Santisteban, was playing mahjong before and up to the
time of collision. Moreover, after the collision, he failed to institute
appropriate measures to delay the sinking MS Don Juan and to
supervise properly the execution of his order of abandon ship.
i. There were also accompanying negligence of the senior 3rd
mate and chief mate.
b. SC: Capt. Santisteban’s conduct is simply unacceptable on the
part of the master of a vessel to whose hands the lives and welfare
of at least seven hundred fifty (750) passengers had been
entrusted. Whether or not Capt. Santisteban was "off-duty" or "on-
duty" at or around the time of actual collision is quite immaterial; there
is, both realistically speaking and in contemplation of law, no such thing
as "off-duty" hours for the master of a vessel at sea that is a common
carrier upon whom the law imposes the duty of extraordinary diligence-
c. SC: The record does not show that was the first or only time that
Capt. Santisteban had entertained himself during a voyage by
playing mahjong with his officers and passengers; Negros
Navigation in permitting, or in failing to discover and correct such
behaviour, must be deemed grossly negligent.
d. PCG: Capt. Santisteban for failing after the collision, "to institute
appropriate measures to delay the sinking of M/V Don Juan."
e. SC: This appears to us to be a euphemism for failure to maintain the
sea-worthiness or the water-tight integrity of the "Don Juan." The record
shows that the "Don Juan" sank within 10 to 15 minutes after initial
contact with the "Tacloban City.
i. While the failure of Capt. Santisteban to supervise his officers
and crew in the process of abandoning the ship and his failure
to avail of measures to prevent the too rapid sinking of his
vessel after collision, did not cause the collision by
themselves, such failures doubtless contributed materially to
the consequent loss of life and, moreover, were indicative of
the kind and level of diligence exercised by Capt. Santisteban
in respect of his vessel and his officers and men prior to
actual contact between the two (2) vessels. The officer-on-
watch in the "Don Juan" admitted that he had failed to
inform Capt. Santisteban not only of the "imminent
danger of collision" but even of "the actual collision
itself”
f. SC: there is also evidence that the "Don Juan" was carrying more
passengers than she had been certified as allowed to carry. It was
allowed, per certificate of inspection 810 passengers and 864 total
persons
i. PCG Report: the total number of persons on board the "Don
Juan" during the incident was 1,004, or 140 persons more
than the maximum lumber that could be safely carried by the
"Don Juan," per its own Certificate of Inspection.
ii. only 750 passengers had been listed in its manifest for its final
voyage; in other words, at least 128 passengers on board had
not even been entered into the "Don Juan's" manifest.
iii. she carried life boat and life raft accommodations for only 864
persons, the maximum number of persons she was permitted
to carry;
g. The grossness of the negligence of Don Juan is underscored when one
considers the ff:
i. Don Juan was sailig more than twice as fast Tacloban City
ii. She carried the full complement of capable officers and crew.
iii. She was equipped with radar which was functioning that
night.
iv. Her officer on-watch had sighted the "Tacloban City" on his
radar screen while the latter was still four (4) nautical miles
away. Visual confirmation of radar contact was established by
the "Don Juan" while the "Tacloban City" was still 2.7 miles
away.
v. Considering the above, "Don Juan" might well have avoided
the collision even if it had exercised ordinary diligence merely.
h. It is true that the "Tacloban City" failed to follow Rule 18 of the
International Rules of the Road which requires two (2) power- driven
vessels meeting end on or nearly end on each to alter her course to
starboard (right) so that each vessel may pass on the port side (left) of
the other.
i. "route observance" of the International Rules of the Road will
not relieve a vessel from responsibility if the collision could
have been avoided by proper care and skill on her part or
even by a departure from the rules.
11. PNOC liab not ruled upon here because heirs did not implead them
12. AMOUNT OF DAMAGES TO BE AWARDED.
a. SC: RTC awarded an amount in lumpsum.Clearly, the trial court should
have included a breakdown of the lump sum award into its component
parts: compensatory damages, moral damages and exemplary
damages.
b. SC: amounts broken down: 400k
i. actual expenses incurred by petitioners in their search for
their parents' bodies- -P126,000.00
ii. actual or compensator damages in case of wrongful death
1. (P30,000.00 x 2) -P60,000.00
iii. moral damages -P107,000.0)
iv. exemplary damages -P107,000.00
c. ADDTL moral damages of 200k is reasonable considering petitioners,
legitimate children of the deceased Sps, are seven (7) in number and
that they lost both father and mother in one fell blow of fate, the pain
and anxiety they doubtless experienced while searching for their
parents among the survivors and the corpses recovered from the sea or
washed ashore, we believe that an additional amount
d. Exemplary damages are designed by our civil law to permit the courts
to reshape behaviour that is socially deleterious in its consequence by
creating negative incentives or deterrents against such behaviour. In
requiring compliance with the standard which is in fact that of the
highest possible degree of diligence, from common carriers and in
creating a presumption of negligence against them, the law seeks to
compel them to control their employees, to tame their reckless instincts
and to force them to take adequate care of human beings and their
property.
i. SC judicial notice: dreadful regularity of maritime disasters
with massive loss of life. The bulk of our population is too poor
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 to afford domestic air transportation. So it is that
notwithstanding the frequent sinking of passenger vessels in
our waters, crowds of people continue to travel by sea.
ii. ADDITIONAL EXEMPLARY 200k: exemplary damages is now
wielded to secure the ends of law and public policy; one of
those ends, of special importance in an archipelagic state like
the Philippines, is the safe and reliable carriage of people and
goods by sea.
13. SC: while pets merely asked for the restoration of the P 400.000.00 award of the
trial court. Firmly settled doctrine that this Court may consider and resolved all
issues which must be decided in order to render substantial justice to the parties,
including issues not explicity raised by the party affected.
a. Here, both the demands of substantial justice and the imperious
requirements of public policy compel the Court
DISPOSITIVE PORTION
CA reversed , P 126,000.00 for actual ,P 60,000.00 as compensatory for wrongful death; P
307,000.00 as moral damages, P 307,000.00 as exemplary damages making a total of P
800,000.00; and P 15,000.00 as attorney's fees.